Damage Limitation

Buon Giorno fellow dieters, I am back. Still feeling quite sore after my hernia repair operation on Friday but very pleased with the results so far (photos later). As I am back in the UK without my highly sophisticated scales then it is just a simple weight reading today .....19 stone exactly or 120.6 kg. I am actually quite pleased even though it is only a 2 kg loss since my last weigh-in. This is because I spent 10 days in Prague for a major system upgrade & given the fact that we were working over the weekend and long hours with only fast food to eat as well as some alcohol consumption it could have been far worse. I certainly realize that it is very difficult to maintain a Dukan diet when you are not in control of preparing your own meals and even when I ordered steak & vegetables at the hotel it turned out that all the veg were cooked in oil & butter. I was quite pleased when one of my colleagues said that he had ordered me a healthy meal of meatballs when we were working on the Sunday - just turned out it was a 12 inch subway with meatballs and thick sauce and cheese!!! (well the intention was good)

When I returned from Prague I had gained 4 lb in weight so this has had to be lost again - funny how it is easier to gain weight than to lose it :-( (But I did have a good time ;-) )

And so after Prague it was back to the UK for the repair on my umbilical hernia; whilst I have had this for many years it is only since I have lost this weight that I felt it would be OK to undergo a general anesthetic. 24 hours in and out and the result is a massive improvement - photos below from Thursday evening compared to yesterday!

 Before

 After

I will have a nice 4 inch scar running up my stomach but if anybody asks me how I did it I will say it was a knife wound from when I was saving a kidnapped damsel from Mexican bandits so don't mess with me LOL

Unfortunately my exercise will be limited to gentle walking over the next few weeks as the healing process takes place.

Considering I spent 10 days in a hotel with a lot of entertainment and put on 4 lb I was quite pleased & I did manage to exercise a bit of control so here are my top tips for business travelers to prevent piling on the pounds.

1. Continue to drink the recommended daily allowance of water 1.5 litres
2. Walk as much as you can. On previous visits I have used taxis whereas this time I walked to the metro & therefore covered an extra 2 km each day
3. Avoid bread & potatoes as much as you can
4. A hotel's buffet breakfast means you can normally select a relatively healthy first meal of the day but avoid the fruit juices, they are full of sugar
5. Rather than using a work restaurant, visit the local supermarket to get your lunch & you can control what you eat
6. It is very difficult to avoid alcohol but I tried to drink alternatively with sparking water
7. Stay focused & positive with the knowledge that a couple of days on pure protein after you return should help you shed any excess. 

Monday 17th March 2014

Top of the morning to you - well it is St. Patrick's Day.

Well, sorry I have not written for a while but I have been away a bit and also very busy & also nothing significant has happened over the last few weeks that I urgently needed to share with you. OK let's start with the facts & figures.

Weight - 122 kg (16.6 kg lost so far)
BMI - 38.9 (44.1 starting)
Body Fat % - 54.4% (66.1% starting)
Body water % - 32.7% (24.1% starting)

So good steady progress although no dramatic drops anymore.

So is the Dukan diet right for you? If you like chicken, fish & eggs every day then it is fine, if you don't then look at alternative diets. Also it is not cheap as you are buying a lot of fresh meat and fish: One tip is to buy fresh whole chickens and then strip it yourself (losing the skin of course), this can be kept in the freezer for when you are ready - this is a lot cheaper than buying chicken fillets. It also can get a bit repetitive but keep focused on the long term benefit as you chew your chicken for the 30th day in a row. I did make a sweet chilli sauce comprising of white wine vinegar, stevia (sugar substitute), garlic & lots of crushed chilli - it certainly added a lot of flavour to the chicken and I had to drink a pint of water to keep me cooled.

But it is not all boring, yesterday I had a nice breakfast having discovered (thanks to the wife) Turkey Bacon, slightly smoked. It is less than 2% fat and tastes very good so it was a bit like having an English breakfast.

Have to admit that my living room is more looking like a gym with my spinning bike, weights and now....an exercise bench which I got for €10 at a flea market. Heaven help me when I eventually leave Germany & have to take this back to our house in the UK - extension required I think. The bench is really great for sit-ups as I really struggle doing these flat on the floor at the moment.


My workout session normally lasts for about 60 minutes now which includes 20 minutes of spin-cycling at a speed of ~ 18 m.p.h, a number of different weight sets, and sit-ups/press-ups/step-ups. Just increased the weight on two of my exercises which is a challenge.

Now wearing my smallest pair of suit trousers & work shirt now - hoping that these will last for a while before I have to start shopping again.

Well my food tip for the week is curly Kale (I can already envisage my wife making rude faces already). Kale is one of the world's healthiest foods and has many benefits. I have copied the link here for more information but here is a good overview of the nutrients.

All About Kale

Monday 24th February 2014

My 5 year old nephew walked through our front door on Saturday morning, poked my tummy & said "Your tummy is getting smaller" - from the words of children :-)

OK, some stats firstly

Key indicators:

BMI - first time under the 40's (39.4) - down 10.7% since start - target 25
Body Fat % - 55.5% - down 16% since start - target 25%
Body water % - 31.9% - up 32% since start - target 55%

It has been a relatively relaxing & quiet week as I have been on holiday and was able to spend the time with the family during half-term. Meant that I had access to the running machine rather than the pavements of Agger which also means that you can watch TV whilst running. Have decided that cooking whole chickens & dividing it up for meals is far more economic than buying chicken fillets & it is a lot more tasty - & the dogs/children get to eat the bits that I cannot eat.

There is a TV show called "My 600 lb life" which follows a year in the life of Americans who weigh ~ 600 lb and normally have gastric surgery. The one point that I took away is that it is absolutely essential to have the total support of your family & friends when doing a dieting challenge. One lady had a husband who preferred "larger women" & he did not support her weight-loss to the point that when he picked her up from hospital after her gastric surgery he stopped at a fast food establishment & then got her to hold his burger - BA****D! She is doing very well though even without his support but it does make it a lot easier if you have the support! http://www.tlc.com/tv-shows/my-600-lb-life 

Another couple of tests to pass this last weekend. Firstly I went to watch Worcester Warriors play rugby against Sale Sharks. Traditionally rugby matches are where you have a few beers before & after the game but I stuck to the diet coke & coffee but OMG the way Warriors played I needed some beer - luckily my brother made up for me in the drinking stakes :-)

Sharks on the way to another score!

Saturday evening we went to a friend's birthday party and there was a wonderful wine tasting event organized but I had already elected to drive and managed to enjoy having a sip of the different wines without drinking each glass. Also managed to keep my hands off the large buffet with some very tempting cheeses!

The ten hour journey back from Worcester to Bonn is always a challenge but had an appropriate stock of proteins with me having stopped off at Tesco on route - however my car now smells like a fish market as I ate a seafood salad on route. Have to confess that I did have a glass of Rioja after the drive as I needed to wind down after the trip.

Quite difficult to find the next appropriate milestone so I will guess that I will switch the weight to imperial (19 st 6 lb) and have the target of moving into the 18's as the next one. Guess that this will most probably take about 3 weeks. Also happy to have made the first step towards having my umbilical hernia repaired by talking to my Doctor who has referred me to a consultant. Need to meet with him to find out what weight he wants me to reach before he is prepared to operate. I really hope that it is a relatively quick target to achieve as I would love to have this done before the summer holidays so I don't get the child stares again.

The good news as I write on day 49 of the diet is that I am still as motivated as day 1, maybe even more so as the results are noticeable, and look forward to the future.

February 17th 2014

You may wonder why I have started with a picture of Sainsbury's in Bracknell - well, I owe big apologies to any shopper with mobility issues who may have been shopping there at Saturday lunchtime - to be revealed later!

Well, all I can say about this week is that I got through it without any major damages. Unfortunately I am without my special reading scales this week so it is a weight only reading of 125.6 kg. This is a 0.5 kg drop from last week but a) I am not surprised and b) I am lucky I did not increase.

Left Bonn at 7 a.m. on Thursday morning for the first leg of my 3 day drive - 1250 km to Narbonne in the South of France. Freezer bag all prepared with all necessary food supplies for the next 3 days. Nightmare journey with torrential rain & high winds for most of the trip but arrived at 6 pm. After checking in at the hotel and getting sorted I thought that I deserved a glass of wine so I went to the bar. I had a small pitcher of vin rouge & refused the menu as I had a bag of cold chicken waiting in my room & "Non monsieur, je ne veux pas le petit dejeuner demain". Really tested when the guy sat opposite me had a plate of French cheese delivered B*****D but I gripped my knife strongly & resisted the temptation to go & stab him.

I hope you choke on your Camembert!

Had my cereal for breakfast although the milk was starting to taste of bit iffy along with some eggs that I had boiled the day before - another strange smell! Spent 5 hours dismantling furniture and loading the car and then set off on leg 2, a short 700 km this afternoon. Opened up my cool bag to have a very late lunch & decided to close it quickly as it did not reveal pleasant odours. Once again having arrived at the hotel I decided that I would try something off the menu so without asking what it contained I selected the Salad de Langres (town where I was staying). Ah, the salad constituted a lettuce leaf and half a tomato with a large piece of French bread covered in goat's cheese - not the best combination!

6.30 departure on Saturday morning after emptying the rest of my cool bag (well, not so cool bag now) in the bin. 7.15 & the result of me eating cheese & bread for the first time in 6 weeks meant that I had to take an early pitstop at a service station! I also needed to buy something to eat as I had a very long jorney ahead of me so I bought what looked like the least damaging product which was two mini rolls with ham. B****r, I forgot that the French liked to add loads of mayonnaise & I really did not enjoy the greasy texture. Another 4 stops between Langres & Calais as the bike rack kept on coming undone - not a happy driver. Needed petrol as I was going around the M25 so I stopped at Cobham services. Also needed to have some lunch to keep my energy up as I was fading rapidly and at least I could check the ingredients this time. A fairly innocuous looking chicken sandwich which I ate after leaving. Then the traffic came to a halt on the M25 just as my tummy was starting to say, "what have you done to me?!" After 30 minutes of sitting in stationary traffic we started to move and I came off at the next exit in absolute agony knowing that there was a Sainsbury's store about 20 km away - ah, the link is starting. Hand-brake turned in the car park & quick walked with pained face into the customer toilets. WTF!!! The one toilet in the men's section was occupied. No choice - disabled toilets ahead & empty. Well I am very sorry to anybody who visited in the next 2 hours & I would not be surprised if the store was not evacuated.

The moral of the story is that on the Dukan diet food products that are not allowed & introduced very slowly & carefully after you have reached your target weight & I can now see why!

Anyway as I said at the beginning I was lucky to have got away without gaining weight last week & my resolve is even stronger than before. It is my youngest son's 15th birthday today & I really hope he has a lovely day and enjoys the cream eclairs, chocolate birthday cake & dark rich chocolate mousse because I will be enjoying my cottage cheese & chicken again.

Monday 10th February 2014

Well Good morning everybody. Let us start firstly with the weekly readings.

Weight - 126.1 kg - down 12.5 Kg since start and exactly 50% towards first target
BMI - 40.7 - down 3.4 since start or a 7.8% reduction
Body Fat - 58.1% - down 12% since start
Body water - 30.0% - 24% increase (improvement)

And as a graph

Two major milestones this week, firstly reaching the 50% target in 5 weeks and secondly in the stones/pounds scale my weight beginning with a 1 - the first time for a very long time. However this is the point where the graph flattens out as it is definitely getting harder to shift weight now so I think the most I can expect is 1 kg a week from now on. One thing that my sister-in-law pointed out is that muscle is heaver than fat so the BMI reading against target needs to be taken in conjunction with body fat %. The thing about BMI is it purely uses two parameters weight & height which on their own are not meaningful measurements. For example Dan Cole, the England rugby prop [please note that I used an England rugby player for this comparison even though my rugby allegiance is to Wales; this is because after Saturday's performance I would have called them many names] is shown as obese when you enter his weight and height (BMI 33) - do you want to be the Doctor who tells him this?!

It is also funny how your body can have very different readings two days in a row. Yesterday my BMI was 0.6 lower than this morning's reading and I was on a pure protein day yesterday and did over two hours exercise and my reading was higher this morning! This is the thing about diets and also why so many people give up quickly if they do not see quick results. It has to be a long term project and designed so that the weight does not pile-on as soon as you come off the diet.

However a diet does not need to be boring & as long as you are prepared to accept that there will be certain foods that will never be good for you then you can still enjoy your meals. On Saturday night I had a traditional British roast and apart from not having potatoes it was the same - remember unlimited protein; it even looks good as well.

One of the hardest challenges for me is during long car journeys and eating appropriately. My trip from Worcester to Bonn on Wednesday was 9 hours and I had prepared my chicken & ham for lunch but the body needs something else to keep alert. In the end I had 2 cans of Red Bull zero which I do not think is the best substitute. This week I have the same when I will be driving 2664 km from Thursday morning to Saturday afternoon. Not only will I be driving 900 km per day approximately but I will try & have to take as much of my food as I can for the 3 days. Even more so there will be little time for exercise & I will be staying in hotels!

I did feel smug on Friday when I visited our offices in Maastricht as our host said we have a very nice canteen here. I had my lunch  box of cottage cheese & chicken and as I watched my colleagues eating chips & bread rolls & thick sauces I did not mind...non, je ne regrette rien :-)

This weekend was a stay in Germany one and I did my visit to the leisure centre on Saturday morning. I went into the pool and pulled on my swimming goggles - I suddenly realized my eyes were not covered properly. I had only bought with me my running headlight instead of my goggles - people must have thought that I was very strange wearing a headlight in the pool!

Anyway I swam 20 lengths and it was time for the pool fitness to start. A nice couple of exercises with some classical marching songs being played over the speakers. Then the next song came on and it was......The Smurfs!!!

Not only this but as part of the exercise routine we had to hold a finger on top of our head and turn around. All I can say is that I really hope that they did not have a video camera recording as this would have been classic YouTube content! A couple of songs later was "Always look on the bright side of life" and we skipped up & down the pool whistling away - Ministry of Silly walks, here we come.

Saturday afternoon was the first time that I used my spin-bike properly and OMG my butt was so sore after 20 minutes & this is even with a silicon saddle. However 8 km cycled & had a Bond movie playing.

On Sunday I was very disappointed when I got to the pool to read that it was closed for the day for essential maintenance, beneath the notice it said "Thank you for your understanding" - SORRY I did not give you my understanding. So I decided to go out for my run as it was a sunny day, although cold. This is the first time that I have done the trip in daylight & it was so much more pleasant being able to enjoy the scenery. Looking forward to when the longer evenings return so I can do this in light after work.

Anyway after the embarrassment of my first selfie wearing my swimming hat & goggles, I thought that I would share another one (Oh no I hear my wife saying :-) ) - this is one to show that I have finally met a part of my body that I have not seen for a long time :-) ........ my chin!

Have a great week campers.

Monday 3rd February 2014

Well, four weeks into the diet today and I am still as motivated. Better progress this week again as I have lost 1.7 kg - unfortunately I am not with my scales that does the BMI readings etc. so these will need to be added next week.

So it is exactly 11 kg lost since I started the diet which is 44% towards my first target (sponsorship goal of 25 kg) which I am so pleased with after 4 weeks. Some quite remarkable centimetre losses off certain parts of the body (take that smile off your face please ladies :-) ) A quick summary which are not so easy to see in the graph:

Tummy - 12 cms
Waist - 15 cms
Neck - 6 cms
Chest - 14 cms

Enjoyed going through my wardrobe this weekend and seeing which clothes I could fit into again - think I might need a new pair of swimming shorts before summer holidays though as I suspect they will drop off very quickly when I dive into the pool LOL

I have to admit that I had a glass of wine on Saturday & Sunday night but I did not feel too guilty as it was only one glass and it lasted me for 90 minutes and I did definitely not feel the need for anymore - this is good progress as it shows that I am becoming more disciplined & certainly not dependent anymore.

I have to say that I have not done much exercise over the weekend but now the spinning bike is in the back of my car my next challenge will be to assemble it when I get back to Bonn (based on my DIY skills this may be more of a challenge than the exercise itself!

Food Tips: I have not tried this myself yet as it is quite difficult to find but will definitely give it a go (extracted from Dukan website).

Considered a weed for a long time, purslane is packed with nutrients.You've finished your Attack Phase so here you are in the Cruise phase where you are allowed vegetables. Now the moment has come for you to discover purslane. Purslane is a perennial plant, considered for a long time to be a weed that would grow anywhere. Until the day when it was discovered that it was one of the key, indispensable foods in the diet of the people of Crete, a civilization with the lowest death rate due to heart disease (lower even than the Japanese). As far as I am concerned, and I'll say this quite openly, purslane is a phenomenal food. Not only do I suggest that you eat it but that you grow it too. Buy a few seeds from a local nursery and off you go. Very soon you'll have enough to make a salad. You just have to keep cutting it and it'll grow back. You can also try it in soups like watercress. Purslane contains soluble fibers just like oat bran and apple pectin and can therefore help your body absorb excess calories. It's very rich in omega 3, excellent for fighting stress and promoting good sleep and because of this it cuts down on emotional eating due to stress. If from today on, you get into the habit of eating it regularly, you can expect to reach a slimmer figure!

Anyway tiddly-peeps, off to work but good-luck in any diet you are trying 

Monday 27th January 2014

Well I was gutted this morning. The scales only showed 0.9 kg drop in a week with all my other readings dramatically slowing down. Partly my disappointment is down to expectations as my weight loss has been so dramatic since the start. I guess my body is getting used to being deprived of fat & sugars so it is resisting slightly. Also last week I hurt my back slightly and could not do my run for three nights and I had to miss my lunch twice which does not work as one would expect - you need to feed in the proteins. However, as my wife said to me if I lose 1 kg per week this would equate to 3.5 stone still lost by the time we go to Tunisia on our summer holiday.

Anyway here are the readings:

• Weight - 129.3 Kg - down 0.9 Kg in third week
• BMI - 41.8 - down 0.2 in third week (End target - 25)
• Body fat % - 60.7 - down 0.1 in second week (End target - 25)
• Body water % - 28 - up 0.1 in second week (End target - 55)

The good news is that there is still drops happening from all my measurements and I hope, as my sister-in-law says, that maybe the fat is being converted to muscle although I would expect to see this reflected in my BMI measurement.

I also think this shows the absolute importance of exercise coupled with a diet. By missing my run for 3 nights I am sure impacted on my rates.

Anyway, enough about statistics & readings - this weekend I stayed in Germany so had plenty of time for activities. Went to the swimming pool on Saturday and decided to join in with the pool fitness class even though I was about 20 years younger than any other participant. The lesson ended up with having to hold the hand of a partner and doing a waltz in the water. She was talking to me a lot in German and I had to tell her that I did not speak very much. I feigned it well as I am sure she was asking me out for a drink LOL.

Also discovered that there is a golf driving range only 300M from my apartment - I have not really played a lot of golf in the last 7 years as even the driving range in Belgium cost a fortune. Have to admit that I was very pleased with the way that I hit the balls and for my first 47 out of 50 had about a 98% success rate. Then the golf pro came and stood in the bay next to me and my last three shots were abysmal - pressure.

I have to admit that my hernia even causes the adults to stare at it when I went into the pool/spa/sauna at the weekend - the problem is that now I am starting to lose some weight from my stomach it is becoming even more pronounced! 

I guess they have all watched Alien with Sigourney Weaver (no, not that part) and think that there is an alien in my stomach trying to get out.

Anyway this is number one on my priorities to get fixed.

Whilst it is obviously sad to be apart from the family during the week it means that my wife does not have to suffer with all the fish I eat as she hates it. Mackerel, crab & prawns on Sunday! 

Also be glad to get my new exercise bike as it was very cold & unpleasant running last night & I did not see one other person which is not normal. 

Anyway onwards & upwards - have a great week